Prolific offender photographed for Facebook pleads guilty

A prolific offender in Mission has pleaded guilty to several charges after being arrested by the Mission RCMP, thanks to a Facebook post.

Jada Bailey pleaded guilty to charges of breach of probation, theft under $5,000 and trespassing by night stemming from an incident that occurred in October of 2017.

At that time, a Mission resident posted a photo of Bailey, after she was spotted rummaging through a car. The car owner detained her, took several pictures and then let her go without calling police.

However, Mission RCMP saw the photos on Facebook and later found and arrested Bailey.

According to staff Sgt. Steve Crawford, Bailey was sentenced to 20 days in jail and 18 months probation for the breach of probation and one day in jail and 18 months probation for the remaining charges.

Bailey was credited for pre-sentence time because she had already been held in custody for 59 days as she awaited court.

“That wasn’t punitive because the court was satisfied that there was a chance she wouldn’t appear,” explained Crawford, who added it was lucky that Bailey was caught, considering the circumstances.

“We do have a team specifically dedicated to this type of offender, but people have to call us, and if they don’t call us, we may not know about it.”